Did CBS Snub Michigan Or Get It Right With Its Top Ten List?

Not one Michigan player made CBS Sports' top ten players in the Big Ten list.

A few days ago, CBS Sports ranked the top 10 college football players in the Big Ten ahead of the 2020 season and not one Michigan player made the cut.

Here's the list:

1. Justing Fields, QB, Ohio State
2. Micah Parsons, LB, Penn State
3. Pat Freiermuth, TE, Penn State
4. Rondale Moore, WR, Purdue
5. Wyatt Davis, OG, Ohio State
6. Rashod Bateman, WR, Minnesota
7. Josh Myers, OC, Ohio State
8. Tanner Morgan, QB, Minnesota
9. George Karlaftis, DE, Purdue
10. Journey Brown, RB, Penn State

So what do we see? Lots of Penn State and Ohio State players.  The Buckeyes and Nittany Lions are justified, but Michigan fans surely won't like looking at that list. Two from Minnesota isn't necessarily surprising but two from Purdue is. And that's it. Four teams give us all 10 top players. No maize and blue.

CBS did recognize five Michigan players as honorary mentions, but omitted perhaps the most deserving player on U-M's roster in Nico Collins. Tight end Nick Eubanks, defensive end Aidan Hutchinson, offensive tackle Jalen Mayfield, defensive end Kwity Paye and cornerback Ambry Thomas all made the secondary list, but Collins did not. One could make a pretty strong argument for Cameron McGrone being on the list as well.

This is a tough argument. As someone who follows the Michigan program closely, it seems crazy that none of the U-M players mentioned above made the list, but after a deeper dive, it's hard to remove anyone from the list in order to put a Wolverine on it.

In my opinion, Collins, Hutchinson and Mayfield have the strongest resumés, but honestly, it's hard to bump any of the ten listed players.

Mayfield if viewed as a potential first-round pick in the 2021 draft, but Davis and Myers are potentially the best players at their position in the entire country. But Davis and Myers are elite. Davis was a five-star recruit coming out of high school and started the final two games of 2018 before starting all 14 games last year. He was named a first-team All-American by the Associated Press, CBS Sports and The Sporting News last year and is widely regarded as the best interior offensive lineman in the country. Myers was considered the No. 2 guard in the country coming out of high school and was a second Team All-Big Ten member per the media last fall. Should Mayfield be ranked ahead of them? I'm not sure.

Collins is a freak at 6-4, 222 pounds, but he simply hasn't been utilized enough. Moore was injured last year but the year before that, as a true freshman, he had 114 catches for 1,258 yards and 12 touchdowns. Last year, Bateman had 60 grabs for 1,219 yards and 11 scores. During Collins' best season last year, he had just 37 catches for 729 yards and seven touchdowns. Collins is too good of a player to be double up by other receivers in the Big Ten, but that's what's happened. Size, talent and potentially speaking, Collins might be No. 1 among receivers in the conference, but you simply can't bump Moore or Bateman for him at this point.

Finally, there's Hutchinson, who is widely regarded as the best player on the team per several close to the program. Last year he had 69 tackles including 10 for loss and 3.5 sacks. That's a pretty solid season but it's not as good as Purdue's George Karlaftis. Last year as a true freshman, Karlaftis recorded 54 tackles including 17 for loss and 7.5 sacks. Hutchinson plays the anchor position, which rarely allows for him to freely get after the passer, but Karlaftis' numbers are still going to pop more on paper and he did it as a rookie.

I don't think anyone would be upset if Collins, Hutchinson or Mayfield were on the top ten list, but upon further inspection, CBS probably got it right.